Strange Places short-listed for Saskatchewan Book Awards

I am tickled purple to tell you all that Strange Places was short-listed today for the Saskatchewan Book Awards. Here’s a picture of me smiling at the press conference surrounded by some of the other nominated titles. (Thanks to my friend and fellow author, Carrie Rigby-Wilcox for the photo.)

So, what do awards count for? Some writers, whose opinions I respect, say awards don’t really matter. But I think most of them are speaking from the position of an established career, backed by a large or mid-sized publisher, and perhaps from that point of view, awards don’t make much difference.

Yours Truly, however, is not in such a position. I’m an unknown author from a small province, working with a young publishing company. And even though that publisher is working hard to attract attention to my work, when you’re just getting started like we both are, having more people saying your name and pointing at your work matters.

So I want to say a very loud “thank you” to all the folks at the Saskatchewan Book Awards program for short-listing me. Whether Strange Places and I should win the roll of the dice in April is anybody’s guess, but I won’t be holding my breath, and I really do not care which way it goes. Because between you and me, the simple fact of being short-listed is all the validation I need.

And now I have that.

Supporting some special fans - just 4 more votes to 1st place

About the author

Jefferson Smith is a Canadian fantasy author, as well as the founder, chief editor and resident proctologist of ImmerseOrDie. With a PhD in Computer Science and Creativity Systems compounded by a life spent exploring most art forms for fun and profit, he is underqualified in just about everything. That's why he writes.